Inside the walls. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] One evening The Delhi Walla knocked at the door of D Bhattacharjya Tato. His one-room house is on the roof of a single-floor bungalow in BK Dutt Colony, a quiet…
Looking for Delhi delights. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Some think of Delhi as a city where people don’t have time to acknowledge each other and where nobody smiles. Wrong. Every Delhiwalla is as curious about the other…
80 km from Delhi. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Half a century ago, it had 85 steam engines and a staff of 500. Today it has nine engines and a staff of 25. The Rewari Steam Loco Shed,…
One of the one per cent in 13 million. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] “I want to be buried here,” says Sadia Dehlvi, the author of Sufism: The Heart of Islam. The Delhi Walla meets her at Nizamuddin…
The middle-class Delhi’s Switzerland. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Mussoorie, the Himalayan town in Uttarakhand that is a six-hour drive from Delhi, is a resort in name only. The Mall Road, the city’s touristy stretch, is littered with…
Best collection of non-fiction on India. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] If it were a book, it would be thick, dense, informative, wonderfully engaging, but wrapped in unattractive grey paper. Manohar bookstore in central Delhi is that sort…
The gift of summer. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] The beginning of Delhi’s harsh summer has its comforts. In March and April as the temperature rises, the city’s green cover is taken over by bougainvillea flowers. The red…
The beautiful Delhi instant. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Delhi Walla was one afternoon walking around Jantar Mantar, the area outside the 18th century solar observatory where Indians protest against injustice. Heading to Tolstoy Marg, I witnessed…
A cultivated casualness. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] No. 7. First Floor, at Hauz Khas Village (2651 6341) – Taken in by its faux-bohemian spirit, some consider Hauz Khas Village a John Lennon song. People come here to…
Watching the cricket-watching Delhiwallas. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Cheers and screams. On April 2, during the final match of the 2011 Cricket World Cup between Sri Lanka and India, The Delhi Walla walked around the town –…
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